Writing From A Prompt
by SummerStarWatcher
Summary: Sarah and Saffy are practicing writing creatively from a prompt, because exams are coming up, and people keep interrupting and telling their own stories.  Tom/Rose, Indigo/Sarah, a bit of Caddy/Michael and Eve/Bill, kind of.


A/N: Here's another story that I found in an old journal. It's a bit complicated to explain; sorry if the summary was confusing. You'll just have to read it.

Enjoy!

~Star

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Normal is Sarah.

_Italics is Saffron._

Underlined is Indigo.

**Bold is Rose.**

**_Bold and italics is Tom._**

XXXX

Okay, Saffy, time for a practice exam. It's almost the end of the term and we want to do well. Let's start with creative writing. I'll give you a prompt, and you write a story.

_How come you get to pick the prompt?_

Because I came up with the idea. You can have a turn next.

_Fine._

Prompt: Happily ever after.

_That's the prompt?_

Yep.

_That's it?_

Yep. Go.

_Oh. Well. Fine then. _

_Once upon a time (all happily ever after stories start like that, you know) there was a girl. She met a boy, and they fell in love. But then he had to go away and the girl was sad, and she was even more unhappy when he didn't even call or write after that. So she tracked him down. It turned out to all be a misunderstanding so then everyone was okay and happy again and they all lived happily ever after._

_ There._

Saffy! That was barely a paragraph, much less a story!

You were writing about Rose and Tom, weren't you?

_Well. Yes. Everyone knows they're going to live happily ever after. It's only a matter of time. But it's harder than it looks, writing these stories._

Ha! It's easy! Try again.

_You try, if you think it's so easy!_

Okay. You'll see.

Once upon a time there lived a girl. She was golden haired and scatterbrained, and had better things to worry about than passing exams or learning useful skills like driving. But her father insisted, and so she started learning how to drive.

And what good luck that was. Because her driving teacher was the most handsome and perfect man she had ever seen, and, as golden haired, scatterbrained people seem to do, she instantly fell in love with him.

But he was a stubborn man, and so it took months before he finally admitted to himself (or her) that he was in love. Finally he did, and he proposed to her, and she accepted.

The problem with being scatterbrained is that you never knows if something is really what you want. Such was the problem the girl had.

She couldn't deal with the stress and so she sent the boy away, broken hearted. He took himself off, out of the country.

The moment he was gone, the girl missed him. But she had a stubborn streak, so she didn't admit it to anyone. It wasn't until a year or so and a disastrous almost marriage later that she realized he really was the one she was meant to be with, and so she went after him.

She found him and apologized for sending him away and told him she still loved him, and he admitted he still loved her too. And so they went back home and got married, and lived happily ever after.

See? Not that hard. Add more detail than I did though; mine was just an example.

_Very nice. Good idea, writing about Caddy and Michael (if anyone in this family has a happy ending, its them, what with Buttercup and Jassy and Juniper and baby Maddy and all), but you left out Buttercup from the story. And Alex, mostly. And whatever happened between Caddy and Michael in Portugal, that made her come back all alone with Buttercup._

I know, but I don't know what happened in Portugal and Buttercup was just too complicating, and writing about Alex would take too long. And I didn't like him. Anyway, its your turn again.

_ Alright, alright._

And don't forget to tell the whole story. Details and all. Make it long. Put more conflict in, like the time Tom brought home that girl—

_Sarah! Let me tell it._

Sorry. Go ahead.

_Once upon a time, there was a stubborn little girl. She was only eight years old, but she was confidant and decisive and always knew exactly what she wanted. The moment she met the twelve year old American boy, she knew he was going to be her friend._

_ And the moment the boy met the little girl, he knew she was special. _

_ They became instant friends. He would tell stories and she would smile, she would draw and he would watch, he would play guitar and she would listen. They were complementary people, the kind of people who always get along no matter what. And everyone was happy, for a time._

_ But the boy had to go back to America, and the girl was inconsolable._

_ The boy didn't write. He only called twice, in the middle of the night (because of the time difference) and when no one answered he gave up. The girl waited every day for the mailman, and every day when no letter came, her spirits sank a little lower._

_ And the boy was just as sad when no letter from England came. He didn't realize that no one here knew his address in America, he just thought he had been forgotten. And being a rather dim and self-centered person—_

Hey, guys. Saffy, why are you calling Tom dim and self-centered? And what are you doing?

_You just interrupted me, Indigo._

Why are you writing a story about Tom and Rose?

_ Because Sarah made me._

It's almost exam time. We're practicing writing stories from prompts.

What's the prompt?

_ Happily ever after. That's why I was writing about Rose and Tom._

Very appropriate. Good choice. Can I have a turn?

Sure!

_Sarah! It's still my turn!_

Oh, just let him, Saffy.

_Fine. You're not much help for exam practice. You keep distracting me._

Well, thank you, Saffy, for letting me have a go at this.

_No problem. But hurry up._

Once upon a time, there lived a boy. He lived in a house filled with hamsters and clutter and a pack of girls, and a yard full of guinea pigs, and a mother in a shed. And his life was chaotic and busy and interesting, but amidst the chaos every day, he looked for one thing: the pretty girl in the wheelchair who lived down the street.

He never talked to her; oh no, this boy was far too uncertain and shy for that. But he wishes he had.

Then one day, the wheelchair girl got fed up and ran over one of the boy's older sisters. From that moment on, she was part of the family.

The boy was overjoyed that he got to really know the girl and see her everyday. And it turned out that the girl was even prettier up close, with a beautiful smile and gray-green eyes. Witch's eyes.

And so they grew up.

And once they had gotten to the age where they thought about things like girlfriends and boyfriends, dances and dates, the boy got to thinking.

And after he was done thinking, he screwed up his courage and asked the girl to the school disco.

She refused.

The boy was upset and confused, until his brilliant little sister pointed out that the girl thought it was a pity date since she was in a wheelchair and couldn't dance.

So the boy, with a lot of effort and a few personal sacrifices, proved it wasn't a pity date and asked her again.

This time she said yes.

So they went to the disco and they danced the slow dances, and at the end of the night he kissed her.

It was the best night of his life.

(Up till then, anyway.)

And that was the beginning of their relationship, which would last many decades (I'm sure).

And they lived happily ever after.

Aww… That's so sweet, Indy.

I know. It's a true story.

_Okay, stop getting all mushy on me, guys— Ew! Stop! No snogging during exam practice! Sarah, that's my brother! Go away, Indigo!_

Sorry.

_You should be. Wipe of your mouth, Indy, it's pink and sparkly from Sarah's lip gloss._

Thanks, Saff. Good luck with the story.

_Thanks. Go away now._

_ Anyway, where was I?_

_ Oh, right._

_ And being a rather dim person, he only tried calling twice. _

_ The little girl kept waiting and hoping, to no avail. So when the opportunity came to go to America, she jumped on it. She was too little to understand that America was too big of a place to just find someone._

_ But two of her friends knew that. So they went on a dangerous and scary mission to steal the boy's address from school, and they called him up and told him to get to the airport._

_ So when the girl landed in America, there was the boy. And they resolved their misunderstanding and kept in touch when the girl came back to England, and the boy visited whenever he could._

_ And it was in this way that they grew up._

**Who grew up?**

_Oh, hi, Rosy Pose!_

**Who grew up?**

Um, no one. We're just practicing writing stories from prompts. Exams are coming up.

**No! Don't talk about exams. I don't want to think about them.**

Do you want to practice with us, Rose?

**What's the prompt?**

_Happily ever after._

** Oh, that's easy.**

** Once upon a time, there was a girl. She had a twin sister and they shared everything. So when one of them met a boy, it was only natural that they both fell in love with him.**

** So he married the girl and they lived together for a while, but then he had a baby with her sister and a couple babies with the girl and life at home got to messy for him. (The man was annoyingly clean and neat, and hated clutter and wanted to be professional.) So he got a flat in London where he could paint in peace, he said, and only came home on weekends, and then he stopped coming home at all. (Except in emergencies.) And then he got a London girlfriend. But she dumped him when everyone found out that he had a baby with the girl's sister, and so the man was rather lonely and sad that no one needed him. So he came back home, and they lived happily ever after.**

_Rose!_

**What?**

_Eve and Bill did not have a happily ever after story!_

**Why not?**

Well, there was that other girlfriend.

**But she's in the story.**

_Yes, but that makes it not a happy ending._

**Why not?**

Because it means that the boy didn't love only the girl. That's not how these stories work.

**Why not?**

_Because then its not a happily ever after. Besides, your story isn't a happily ever after because the boy left._

**But he came back. And they lived happily ever after. I said so.**

But Rose…

**What? **

Oh, never mind.

_**Hey guys.**_

Hi, Tom. Come to interrupt us, too?

_**Oh, sorry. I'll go.**_

**No, it's fine. Saffy and Sarah are just telling me my story isn't right.**

_**Why not?**_

_We're practicing writing from prompts. The prompt is happily ever after, and Rose wrote about Bill and Eve. That's not a happily ever after story._

_**Why not?**_

_Not you, too!_

Because of Samantha and London and being Saffy's father.

_**I guess. But he came back in the end, didn't he? I'd call that a happily ever after.**_

**See! Tom agrees with me. So.**

_Fine. Never mind. Back to my story—_

Saffy? Do you think its wise, given our current company?

_Oh. Good point._

_**Why? What's your story about?**_

_Um, nothing._

**You dropped a paper.**

No Rose, don't look at that—

**Hey! They're writing about us!**

_**What about us?**_

**Happily ever after.**

Well, we just thought, you know, you've been friends for so long, and, well… Saffy?

_It was a joke, really. Really, Rose._

_**A happily ever after story about us, hm?**_

Well, yes.

_**That's easy.**_

_** Once upon a time, there was a boy. He lived in America, but he went to England to get away from his family. When he was there, he met this girl. She was a particularly stubborn little girl, even at the tender age of eight. She knew what she wanted, and everyone else knew it too, she made sure of that. No one could stand in her way.**_

_**And so she met the boy.**_

_**She ran through traffic just to get to him. She listened to his stories and gave him someone to practice taking care of and gave him a guitar, and they were best friends.**_

_**And then he left.**_

_**It was not his, fault, he had to. His baby sister was dying, and that was the thing about the boy. He also was stubborn and knew what he wanted, but sometimes he was wrong. And when he was wrong he tried to make up for it.**_

_**And so the boy went back to America and he missed the girl and her family desperately. The boy felt angry and forgotten, until he got an early morning phone call that the girl was coming to find him. After that visit, the boy phoned and wrote and emailed visited whenever he could, and so her absence was bearable. **_

_**And in that manner, they grew up. And when the boy graduated from his American high school he immediately came over to England to be with the girl and her brother and her family. **_

_**And he lived with them and watched the girl every day until finally he got fed up and couldn't stand it anymore, and then he kissed her. At last.**_

**What? You've never kissed me.**

_**Oh. Well then.**_

Whoa. Whoa…

_Not expecting that._

That's quite a kiss. Especially for Rose's first kiss.

_She definitely won't be forgetting that one._

Hey! Hands off my sister, Tom!

_Oh, shut up, Indigo._

You knew this was going to happen eventually.

I did, but still. That's my best friend, who's kissing my baby sister… It just doesn't feel right. Even if it was meant to be.

_Well how do you think I feel about you and Sarah? You'll just have to get used to it._

So, back to your story?

_No, enough exam practice for today._

_And besides, I think that kiss is happily ever after enough for my story._


End file.
